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CHILDREN |
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CHILDREN |
Yearnings Of The Young A consortium of
organizations working for children’s welfare strives to give them a voice in the
preparation of plans and policies By AKSHAY SHARMA The Save the Children’s alliance with
a consortium of organizations working with children clubs in Nepal organized a National
Children’s Fair in Kathmandu last week to help the young have a say in the way
programs meant for them are drawn up and implemented.
"The fair is aimed a bringing a
large number of children representing all the regions of the country who are in difficult
circumstances and at risk but involved in making their situation better. They will
interact with Nepal’s delegates to the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on
Children, government officials, private sector representatives, children, non-government
organizations, UN agencies and the public," said Anil Raghuvanshi of Save The
Children, UK. The session, which was scheduled to be held
in New York from September 19 to 21, was postponed after the recent terrorist attacks in
New York and Washington. "This is only a postponement, not a cancellation," UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement. "The issue is still very much with
us. I think we should stay the course, and adopt a concrete agenda for action for this
decade." Save the Children alliance together with
the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare as well as UNICEF, PLAN International
and NGOs is actively involved in promoting the Global Movement for Children (GMC) and the
UN special session. Alliance members are supporting and
actively involved in organizing activities with children in Nepal to promote the GMC
before, during and after UN session. The aim is to create a strong impact on the national
policies and making Nepalese children’s voice heard in the international fora. The children’s fair is a foundation
stone involving children’s groups coming from the different parts of Nepal to
especially to influence the Nepali delegates to the UN special session. The Nepalese
delegation will include representatives of the government, non-government organizations
and children’s groups. There was an interaction between children and the Nepalese
delegates during the fair. The program is expected to make the
delegates, media and the people more aware about Nepalese children’s issues and
concerns. The fair is also specifically expected to help the delegates to present the
perspectives of the Nepalese children at the UN special session. It is also expected to help civil society
to create direct and indirect pressure for the well-being of children. Although this fair
may not have a direct impact on the outcome of the final UN document, it was aimed at
providing children the opportunity to influence the 10th Plan of Nepal and the
country’s plan of action on children for the next decade. Another aim is to create a
base for establishing and strengthening better accountability of government bodies to
children. There is a consortium of non-government
organizations working directly with children’s groups and clubs in Nepal. Each member
is working directly with children groups on various issues. Save the Children alliance
members have been working in partnership with children’s groups for various specific
purpose, such as the Bhutanese refugee children, slum children, protection from HIV/AIDS,
children in conflict with the law and disabled children. The post-fair activities in Kathmandu will
include interaction with the delegates after the special session, where the children will
be able to hear from the delegates what happened in New York, learn what commitment they
made, find out what their next steps will be, as well as to question them on regard to the
points of interest to the children. All the children’s groups participating in the
fair may not have chance to interact with delegates directly, but mechanisms should be
developed to update and inform them. The children’s groups will go back to
their respective districts and interact with the District Child Welfare Committees (DCWC)
about their issues, concerns and agenda. A plan describing "what, how and when"
will be made among the children and the DCWCs to influence the national action plan as
well as programs of their respective districts. n |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
